Records Broken, Qualification Earned as Statesmen Finish Eighth in League Championship
Maryville, Mo.–A trio of school records and a national qualification paced the William Penn women’s track and field team battled at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Indoor Championship Friday and Saturday.
As a squad, WPU finished eighth out of 13 teams with 34 points. Central Methodist took home the title with 201 points.
The navy and gold scored points from four individuals, headlined by Adedoyin Aderibigbe (Fr., Cedar Hill, Texas, Sociology). The freshman finished second in the 60-meter dash, breaking her own school record with a time of 7.60 seconds (old record was 7.62). She was also third in the 200-meter dash, again breaking her own program mark in 24.88 seconds (previous record was 25.63).
Crystal Shaw (Fr., Austin, Texas, Applied Computer Science) matched her fellow freshman with a pair of scoring performances. She was third in the long jump at 18-5.75 and fifth in the triple jump at 37-8.5.
Already a national qualifier and school record-holder in the long jump and a record holder in the triple jump, Shaw added a second qualification, doing so in the triple jump by meeting the ‘B’ standard. The freshman also improved upon her own school record in the triple jump event.
Phoebe Burt (Sr., Iowa City, Iowa, Sociology) put herself on the shot put podium as well, taking second at 43-2.25.
Mallory Ostroski (Fr., Le Grand, Iowa, Kinesiology) was the final William Penn scorer, managing to finish seventh in the 800-meter run in a time of 2:34.29.
Three other Statesmen narrowly missed being point-scorers, led by Claire Rye (Fr., Plymouth, Iowa, Biology) placing 10th in the one-mile run in 5:32.55. Emmalee Wells-Stout (Fr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, Business Management), with a 60-meter hurdles time of 9.63 seconds, and Arabella Nepa (Fr., Clayton, Ga., New Media), with a high jump of 4-9.5, both ended up 11th as well.
“We went out there and competed both days,” Head Coach Victoria Vinokur said. “We saw records, hardware, and national qualifiers all over the place this weekend. Our ladies really went out there and left it out on the track, runways, and rings. I could not be more proud.”
Next Up: Aderibigbe and Shaw will travel to Gainesville, Fla. on March 5-7 to represent William Penn at the 49th Annual NAIA National Championship. Action will be held at Alachua County Sports & Events Center at Celebration Pointe.
